With the sour economy came a new tone in marketing and advertising messages. Financial ads became more somber. Packaged-goods makers took swipes at competitors as they desperately tried to retain market share. And, in almost every industry, companies unleashed campaigns that touted more-for-your-money value.

He was a 27-year-old table tennis player back then who bristled that the Chinese system for selecting elite athletes was working against him. Nowadays, at age 44, he is set to begin competition in his third Olympics in his first match on Tuesday against Nigeria's Segun Toriola.

Mount Olympics. NBC's first three nights of the Beijing Summer Olympics, averaging 30.4 million viewers combined, easily surpassed the comparable nights of the 2004 Games in Athens (24 million). Friday's coverage (34.9 million) was the most-watched opening ceremony for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics. The three nights helped NBC triple the weekly averages of the next highest networks in viewers (CBS) and young adults (Fox).

The United States' men's eight boat not only fell short of its record time, it failed to win its first heat race in the Beijing Summer Olympics. The Americans finished second to Great Britain, forcing the U.S. team into a second-chance race Tuesday in order to qualify for Sunday's final.

Security forces kept a close watch on Beijing's Tiananmen Square during Wednesday's anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, amid renewed calls for the release of political prisoners ahead of this year's Beijing Summer Olympics.

For President Bush, it would seem a small gesture to make a big point: Staying away from the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics would send a clear signal of U.S. anger over China's crackdown against anti-Beijing Tibetan protesters.